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Commentary
Wall Street Journal

The SCO’s Clumsy Push to Disrupt the World Order

walter_russell_mead
walter_russell_mead
Ravenel B. Curry III Distinguished Fellow in Strategy and Statesmanship
Vladimir Putin and Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev during the Russian-Uzbek signing ceremony at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit on September 15, 2022, in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. (Contributor/Getty Images)
Caption
Vladimir Putin and Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev during the Russian-Uzbek signing ceremony at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit on September 15, 2022, in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. (Contributor/Getty Images)

It was a busy week for Washington’s foreign-policy elite. House Speaker visited Armenia to express sympathy following a with Azerbaijan that left an estimated 200 dead in their contested border regions. Before heading to London for Queen Elizabeth’s funeral, President Biden warned against using nuclear weapons in Ukraine and repeated that the U.S. will defend Taiwan with American troops if Beijing invades.

But the week’s biggest news didn’t come from Washington. It came from Samarkand, Uzbekistan, the fabled Silk Road city, where the eight nations that make up the Shanghai Cooperation Organization held their annual summit.

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